‘Bloody awful’: Origin ticket debacle leaves thousands locked out

The Maroons weren’t the only ones to miss out at the Origin decider, with thousands of fans locked out of Suncorp due to ticket scalping.

The Maroons weren’t the only ones to miss out at the Origin decider, with thousands of disgruntled fans locked out of the stadium.

A ticket debacle saw a record-breaking number of punters showing up to the gates before up to 2000 were told their tickets were invalid after they were scanned.

Both Suncorp Stadium and the NRL were forced to override the barcode system to let ticket holders in.

“The scenario was the overriding system identified a number of tickets that were fairly certain to be scalped tickets, which is illegal - to sell a ticket more than the face value - here in Queensland,” Suncorp Stadium General Manager Alan Graham said.

Thousands of State of Origin fans were left hanging outside the gates due to the ticketing debacle. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“Given the volume of tickets last night ultimately the NRL and Suncorp Stadium made the call to overlook that and reactive those barcodes to let them in.”

Through the ticketing system used at the game, individual barcodes may be locked when the ticket is found it be illegitimate or scalped.

“For the 2000 people we encountered, the seat itself existed but the ticket itself was illegal and that’s why the barcode was blocked and we have that in place to prevent scalping,” Mr Graham said.

“That was quite extraordinary, I guess because of the magnitude of the game, it became quite an appealing target for scalpers.”

For some customers, this meant paying more than $200 for a ticket.

Thankfully, due to the unprecedented numbers, fans were allowed into the stadium to watch the decider, and most were seated by kick-off.

Mr Graham said they also encountered separate groups of fans who had been scammed to purchase fake tickets.

“Buying from unauthorised sellers they’re quite unscrupulous and we find people selling the same ticket several times and obviously the first person will be allowed entry,” he said.

“But the main issue we saw was the scalped tickets.”

Maroons fans were left disappointed after a heartbreaking loss against the Blues. Up to 2000 fans nearly missed the whole thing due to ticket scalping. Picture: Patrick Woods

Col Finley was one of many fans who took to Facebook to share his frustration and disappointment after purchasing tickets for the game off unofficial resale site The Ticket Merchant.

The Blues fan said he was excited to surprise his young son to the State of Origin decider, but soon found out their seats in the Blatchy Blues section behind the goal post were a scam.

“It was a dream come true, as I’ve been playing and supporting NRL rugby league for over 40 years but had never experienced the State of Origin live,” the post read.

“However, by 6pm, we still hadn’t received our tickets. We spoke to three individuals, all with varying attitudes and reasons as to why, but all ensured our tickets would arrive ... it was evident this was all part of the scam.”

Mr Finley went on to call out Ticket Merchant for breaking the hearts of unwitting fans.

Crowd emotions during State of Origin Game 3 at Suncorp Stadium. Picture by Luke Marsden.

“Losing money was one thing, but witnessing the heartbreak of my son and so many others who had fallen victim to the scam was genuinely disheartening,” he said.

“So many innocent people are affected every day by greedy and untrustworthy companies like Ticket Merchant who are taking advantage of life moments like ours.”

Ticket Merchant have been contacted for comment.

Official ticket selling platform for the State of Origin, Ticketek, told The Courier-Mail that allowing the approximately 2000 fans inside despite their tickets being “illegal” was “the most practical decision in the circumstances”.

“The scourge of ticket scalping reared its ugly head at Suncorp Stadium last night where around 2000 tickets were identified as being sold by scalpers at highly inflated prices,” a Ticketek spokesperson said.

“Because of the large number involved, the NRL in conjunction with the stadium and Ticketek took the decision to reactivate those barcodes to allow those ticket holders to enter the stadium.

“This action in no way condones the illegal trade of scalped tickets, but was the most practical decision in the circumstances.”

The spokesperson said despite one report from a patron who said their Ticketek had been hacked, the website had not been compromised and Ticketek were resolving the issue.

“The Ticketek system has not been compromised and it is believed that this patron may be a victim of a cyber attack on her own personal accounts and serves as another timely reminder to be vigilant and practice cyber security.”